Students protest closing of charter school in Long Beach

LONG BEACH - Holding posters that read: "We are the future," dozens of students rallied outside of Colegio New City High School on Friday after receiving word that the high school will close after this school year.

Founded in 2000, New City Public Schools is a K-12 charter school system of more than 500 students with campuses at 1637 Long Beach Blvd. and 1230 Pine Ave. Four years ago it added a small high school, Colegio New City, which will celebrate its first graduating class in May.

On Wednesday, however, the seven-member New City Board of Directors voted to close the high school due to low enrollment and a decline in state funding.

Long-time students who have enjoyed the small, close-

knit atmosphere said they are devastated.

"I feel depressed and frustrated because I've never been to a large school, and I don't know what to expect," said ninth-grader Zukey Reyes, who has attended the New City system since kindergarten. "I'm sad I might not get to see all the people I grew up with."

The high school has eight teachers and 84 students, with a senior class of 16 students expected to graduate this year. While school directors had hoped for larger enrollment numbers by now, enrollment has declined as students show progress and then transfer to larger schools, said high school director Brookes Marindin.

"The enrollment hasn't been as high as we expected," Marindin said.

Charter schools are publicly funded, but independently run. They're overseen by school districts but are free from many of the education regulations binding traditional public schools.

New City prides itself on its Spanish dual immersion program and emphasis on multiculturalism and the arts.

Marindin said the school has a 95 percent attendance rate and a strong parent support group. Many parents, she said, are also devastated by the planned closure.

School directors have not determined how much funding the high school would need to remain open, she added.

New City will remain open as a K-8 school, although in November, the K-8 school was threatened with the loss of its charter under a proposed state law that gives the California Department of Education authority over school districts to revoke charters for the lowest performing schools.

For now, however, the school is safe because the law is in limbo while the state struggles to decide whether school districts or the state Department of Education should oversee charter schools, said New City Director Stephanie Lee.

The K-8 school's Academic Performance Index, a score given to schools based on state test results, was 621 last year, putting the school below the state target of 800. The 2011 API for the high school is a low 595.

The K-8 school at one time showed significant gains. In 2006, New City's API score jumped by 57 points, for an API of 741.

Lee attributes the significant drop in scores in recent years to growing pains. She said the K-8 school doubled in size in 2007 and moved to various locations in the city while struggling to find a permanent location.

Students in the high school said they're holding on to the hope that they can raise enough funds to keep the school open. They plan to hold fundraisers over the next few months.

Braulio Roman, a 16-year-old junior, was looking forward to his senior year next year and graduating with his close-knit class. Now, he said he's looking at other possible schools in the Long Beach Unified School District but hoping that somehow Colegio New City will stay open.

"I love this school and I don't want to leave," he said. "We're going to try as hard as we can to keep it open."